Lufax, Futu, Qifu dominate weekly financial gainers after China stimulus blitz

Chinese financial stocks scored the biggest weekly gains among financials after China announced a series of stimulus measures aimed at revitalizing the economy, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 2008 global financial crisis. Conversely, Argentine banks led the biggest decliners.

Financial stocks, overall, closed out the week ended Sept. 27 in the red, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) down 1.1%, compared with the S&P 500’s 0.6% rise.

With the extraordinary wave of stimulus measures, Chinese financials Lufax Holding (NYSE:LU), Futu Holdings (NASDAQ:FUTU) and Qifu Technology (NASDAQ:QFIN) rose the most of any financial stock (with market cap over $2B), surging 49%, 31% and 15%, respectively;

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) miner Cleanspark (NASDAQ:CLSK) gained 13% after landing an Outperform rating from Macquarie Equity Research; and

Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) rounded out the five biggest winners, climbing 12%, as the cryptocurrency exchange asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s denial of the crypto exchange’s petition for new rulemaking on crypto in December 2023.

On the other side of the fence, credit-card issuer Bread Financial Holdings (NYSE:BFH) dropped 11%;

Argentine lenders Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA) and BBVA Argentina (NYSE:BBAR) slid 10% and 7.9%, respectively;

ServisFirst Bancshares (NYSE:SFBS), a U.S. regional bank, gapped down 6.4%; and

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL), a fellow Argentine bank, dipped 6.1%.